COMING HOME
by Laiba ishfaq
Summary: It's all about David's past life and his mental illness.


COMING HOME

The clouds roared and thundered as water fell from the sky on a wild night. The sky lit up every once in a while as the light came in through the slits of the curtains that hung on the windows. It had been raining all night and it was now 3:00 in the morning.

David woke up with a sudden flash of thunder and lightning. It wasn't like he was scared of anything; it was just that there were some things that still haunted him. He sat on the bed looking around. His sight paused on the woman that lay beside him on the bed: his wife. Joyce was peacefully asleep facing toward him. David dropped his head back onto his pillow. His mind was full of thoughts. He tried to fall back to his sleep but his thoughts kept him from doing so.

*Flash of thunder*

David opened his eyes. It was a sunny day. He was lying on a bunk bed. There were other bunk beds all around.

"you up? You better be," Phil peeked from above.

"yeah, why?" David passed a slight smile.

"better hurry up before Miller flips his shit," Phil jumped down from the top of the bunk bed.

"you're right," David said while sitting up.

It'd only been a week since David Madsen had arrived for basic training. He wanted to join the army and worked really hard for it. He wasn't alone in all of this. He had his best buddy Phil Becker along with him who always brightened his day. They both had a few similar interests but Phil was way more exciting than his pal. David could not have imagined training without him since it was such a hard and rough time.

*Thunder*

"We made it!" Phil jumped in excitement. "You see? I told you it wasn't going to be that hard".

"Who would've known," David said while putting on his uniform. He was a firm looking man in his early thirties. He had dark short hair completely set in place with a moustache. He had a disciplined personality maybe because of all this time in the army.

They had finally made it into the army and it wasn't the end of it. Things progressed really fast and stuff started changing. Both of them went on different journeys. It was the beginning of everything that David had ever known. Everything was going fast and days passed like hours. Their friendship was still as solid as it was before but there was just less time.

Something inside David had changed and it wasn't just the same anymore, but he couldn't care less. He continued his journey and did everything he was told.

"I can't wait for all of this to end," Phil gave David a hug when meeting him after so long. "I just want to go home."

"Can't wait to feel all normal again," David gave a small laugh.

"Yes, can't wait to go home so I can be in all sorts of trouble," Phil joked.

But the worse was yet to come and neither one of them knew. A few years had passed and their friendship was as firm as ever but a huge opportunity awaited both of them. They weren't going home. They had their orders and soon had to set off to a new yet dangerous mission.

*Thunder*

Rain fell heavily on the ground. Everything was sad. The world was crying for a tragedy had taken place. David, now in his late thirties and dressed all in black, was standing beside a casket. A casket that looked too familiar. It was his friend… Phil. A friend who had died on the battlefield far in some infamous area. He never got to go home. Maybe it was also a possibility that now David could never get to go home either.

The sun was out and the birds chirped loud. It was a beautiful day in Arcadia Bay. David sat inside the Two Whales Diner waiting for his breakfast. It had been a year since he retired from the army. He had just decided that he was not too fit to work in the army anymore. He was now almost forty. He took a sip from his coffee while looking outside at the beautiful view through the window from his booth.

"Here's your breakfast Mr."

David turned his face and saw a quite beautiful blonde waitress who looked like she was in her late thirties. He almost forgot everything for an instant. He hadn't had any successful relationships with women in his life before but that seemed to change.

A note she had left for him.

"It was an honor having you in the diner.

Nice to know that gentlemen still exist. Love to talk again with you soon.

BTW, the name is Joyce if you forgot :)"

Joyce Price, a waitress that worked at the Two Whales Diner. Things had started getting pretty serious between the two. In just a week, their relationship had escalated pretty fast. But it wasn't like a happy ending or something. David found out that Joyce's former husband, William Price had died in a car accident just half a year ago, so she wasn't mentally in a good shape. But as soon as she met David, she started changing. She realized that holding on to somethings just make everything worse. She had decided to move on with her own life. Even though she had decided to move on, there were still somethings that took her back to the past, and it wasn't just Joyce, it also inconvenienced David. One of those things was Joyce's teenage daughter Chloe Price.

In David's perspective, Chloe was just a troubled angsty 14 year old girl who was bad at communicating and always got in trouble at school. According to Joyce, she was just in conflict with her past and couldn't move on from her father's tragic death. David tried being nice to her but it never worked. She hated him nevertheless.

Things escalated even faster and soon David moved in with Joyce despite Chloe's opposition. He even got a job as the head of security at the Blackwell Academy, the same high school that Chloe went to which made Chloe hate him even more.

After half another year, he finally proposed to Joyce and they got married. His life finally seemed to have fallen into place but there were still somethings that bothered him.

As for Chloe, he seemed authoritative and aggressive and maybe because he kind of was like that. His time in the army didn't do him good. But Chloe herself wasn't any good either. She started drinking and using drugs to escape from reality and David was always after her to judge her. His intentions may have been good but to others, it seemed completely the opposite. For the next three years, they never got along with each other. Sometimes Joyce would try to make them get along but everything she did backfired. Soon she stopped caring too much because she knew every try would be absolutely useless.

*Thunder flashes*

He lay completely motionless on his bed. His head full of thoughts. He lifted his head slowly and got up from his bed. Rain still falling outside with a storm. He quietly opened the door so as not to wake Joyce up and stepped outside. He needed some air. He'd had PTSD induced nightmares before and couldn't do anything to stop them. He had suffered for a long time and it didn't seem to end.

He saw that the door to Chloe's room was open. He looked inside and found Chloe lying on the bed, sleeping. She still had her shoes and jacket on which probably meant that she had just come home. David gave a disappointed look and headed downstairs.

The sound of thunder followed lightning with an ear deafening bang. Too much things to think about in his unstable mind. Noises of gunshots rang out. Running through the woods for your life. Puddles of blood everywhere, where to hide? Dead bodies and bruised soldiers on the ground. Screams of people and other horrible sounds.

*Light flashes through the glass doors*

Rain falling heavily. Why aren't you around? Not just one person, it's actually so many that are gone. Gone from this world. Had a nightmare about a funeral. There were so many caskets on the ground, and people crying over their dead family members.

*The living room lights up with a loud noise*

I'm finally home, but this doesn't even feel like home. I don't know how to express myself with words. Should I just stay quiet? I open the door of the car. She smiles at me. Now she's crying in the dark. I don't know how to stop this. We're standing in the church. We've been here before but it was for a dead loved one, not for saying the vows. We walk out. She's wearing a white dress.

Home is not a place, it is a feeling. A feeling that sometimes leaves us alone, but soon comes back. The girl hates me. I could never match her father, something that I always wanted to be, but I try harder. Everything goes wrong when I try harder.

*The sound of rain becomes lighter*

He lay on the couch while staring at the ceiling.

"Can't wait to go home."

"You have my orders."

"It was nice to meet you."

"You're not my father."

"I hate you."

*Light flickers*

Sleep pulls him down.

Finally

Peace.


End file.
